Minimum Wage

News about Minimum Wage, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Feb. 25, 2015

New York Gov Andrew M Cuomo announces raise in minimum wage for New York City's tipped workers to $7.50 per hour; rejects Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposal of $13 per hour minimum; increase will take affect at end of 2015. MORE

Feb. 21, 2015

Editorial holds wage increases announced by Walmart, while step in right direction, are still inadequate to improve lot of low-wage workers; contends government action, including improvement of labor standards and raising of federal minimum wage, is needed to improve wages in meaningful way; says Pres Obama may need to act unilaterally in order to achieve this. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Editorial laments that New York State Wage Board, convened by acting labor commissioner Mario Musolino, failed to end practice of subminimum wages for tipped workers in restaurants, antiquated holdover that is kept in place by restaurant lobby; urges Musolino to reject recommendation by board and abolish practice, and calls on Gov Andrew Cuomo to support extension of minimum wage to restaurant servers. MORE

Feb. 1, 2015

Editorial scores Federal Judge Richard Leon for overturning new Labor Dept rules that would have given protections involving minimum wage and overtime to home care aides for elderly and disabled; says wording of 1974 regulation been construed to deny labor rights of home care workers. MORE

Jan. 31, 2015

New York State board recommends increase in hourly wage for tipped workers like restaurant servers, suggesting rate of $7.50 hourly before gratuities, up from current $5; state law lets business owners pay tipped workers below minimum wage of $8.75, provided tips make up difference. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Virginia's State House Committee on Commerce and Labor rejects proposal to increase hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 by 2017. MORE

Jan. 19, 2015

New York State Gov Andrew M Cuomo unveils suite of liberal proposals on social issues in advance of his State of the State message, including plan to raise minimum wage to $11.50 an hour in New York City and $10.50 elsewhere in state; opposition from Republicans in State Senate makes quick passage unlikely. MORE

Jan. 8, 2015

Editorial urges New York Gov Andrew Cuomo to increase state's minimum wage by authorizing his state labor commissioner to convene a wage board to bring about changes to wage rules; holds by bypassing State Legislature, Cuomo has a good tool in battle for fair wages. MORE

Jan. 1, 2015

Minimum wage increases are set to take effect in 20 states, pushing number of states that exceed $7.25 federal minimum to 29; changes will affect some 60 percent of nation's work force, though difference will only be marginal in several states; battle to increase minimum wage has grown more intense amid rising income inequality, prompting Pres Obama to propose a new federal standard of $10.10 per hour. MORE

Dec. 31, 2014

Editorial Keeping Track column offers updates on rules proposed by Obama administration that will offer more protection for members of military from predatory loans; notes status of minimum wage laws at both federal and state levels; criticizes Food and Drug Administration revision to ban blood donations from gay men as illogical. MORE

Dec. 14, 2014

Mark Bittman Op-Ed column contends spontaneous protests around country about issues ranging from the minimum wage to deaths of black men at hands of police seem to indicate that many in the country are fed up; maintains that all issues are connected, and that solutions to those issues are to keep pressure on politicians and those in power by continually protesting. MORE

Dec. 11, 2014

Board members of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey propose that cashiers and food servers at agency's three major airports be paid minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, bringing them in line with other workers; move comes after months of pressure from Unite Here Local 100, union that represents airport workers in area. MORE

Dec. 4, 2014

Labor Department study finds between 3.5 and 6.5 percent of all wage and salary workers in California and New York are paid less than minimum wage; study examined work force data for the two states and found more than 300,00 workers in each state suffered minimum-wage violations each month; violations were most common in restaurant and hotel industries. MORE

Dec. 3, 2014

Chicago City Council approves Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to gradually increase city's minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2019, from $8.25. MORE

Nov. 23, 2014

Successful push to raise minimum wage for Los Angeles hotel workers to $15.37 an hour involved a complex collaboration by forces both inside and outside the traditional labor movement; triumph showcases tactics of Los Angles Alliance for a New Economy, group that is an innovator among 200 nonunion worker advocacy groups that have sprung up across nation as traditional labor unions have dwindled. MORE

Nov. 10, 2014

Editorial urges New York Gov Andrew Cuomo to follow through on campaign promises despite facing a difficult political landscape in his second term; observes that some obstacles are of Cuomo's own making; calls on him to reform corruption in Albany, pursue package of women's rights proposals, address immigrants' rights and raise the minimum wage. MORE

Nov. 6, 2014

Ballot measures to raise minimum wage, one of Pres Obama's and Democrats' signature issues, are embraced in some of the country's most solidly red states; apparent contradiction leaves Democrats wondering what they did wrong. MORE

Nov. 6, 2014

Editorial points out that in many states, voters approved ballot measures that were directly at odds with positions of many Republican candidates who won; notes high-profile and often contentious ballot measures that voters approved involved issues regarding minimum wage, marijuana legalization, criminal justice reform, abortion rights, gun control and environmental protection. MORE

Nov. 5, 2014

Voters in Arkansas and Nebraska vote to raise their minimum wages, bringing number of states that have passed such laws to 28; voters in Washington, DC, and Oregon choose to allow recreational use of marijuana, but measure in Florida to allow use of medical marijuana fails narrowly. MORE

Nov. 4, 2014

Workers' advocates have bypassed legislatures and placed minimum-wage increase on ballots in several red states like Alaska and Arkansas; those against an increase concede that the measures are likely to pass. MORE

Oct. 12, 2014

Editorial highlights ways state and local governments have worked to raise minimum wage due to congressional inaction; laments that New York State and City are lagging in drive for higher wages. MORE

Oct. 8, 2014

Obama administration announces it will put off enforcement of its plan to extend minimum-wage and overtime protections to the nation’s nearly two million home-care workers. MORE

Oct. 1, 2014

Editorial welcomes executive order signed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio that will greatly expand number of people covered by city's living wage law; expresses hope that Gov Andrew M Cuomo is serious about his support for local control of minimum wage. MORE

Sep. 27, 2014

Editorial rejects effort by Arizona, Kansas, Oregon and Tennessee to delay enactment of basic protections for home care workers, scheduled to take effect on Jan 1, 2015; contends that states have had plenty of time to prepare for rule, which guarantees minimum wage and overtime rates for such workers; rejects states' claims that they need more time to address related Medicaid issues. MORE

Sep. 17, 2014

Congressional Memo; events overseas have undermined Democrats’ strategy to tie their midterm prospects to an economic theme that includes calls for a higher minimum wage, reducing income inequality, pay equity for women and help with college tuition. MORE

Sep. 2, 2014

Pres Obama, speaking in Milwaukee at festival hosted by local AFL-CIO, renews his call to raise federal minimum wage and to protect the right to equal pay for women as midterm elections approach. MORE

Aug. 16, 2014

Proposal to increase Nebraska’s minimum wage has qualified for November ballot; if approved, measure would increase state’s minimum wage to $9 an hour by 2016 from $7.25 an hour, MORE

Aug. 2, 2014

Editorial warns that the labor market remains stubbornly weak despite growth in GDP, stock gains and corporate earnings; calls on Pres Obama to continue using his executive authority to improve pay and working conditions, to work with Labor Department to re-establish overtime rules and to keep pushing for a higher minimum wage. MORE

Jul. 28, 2014

About 1,200 fast-food workers from around the country gather in Illinois at an event largely underwritten by the Service Employees International Union, to pursue goal of creating $15-an-hour wage floor for nation's four-million fast-food employees; United States Chamber of Commerce is dubious of the union’s intentions. MORE

Jul. 8, 2014

Editorial notes Germany, in voting to set minimum wage of 8.5 euros an hour, joins other European countries in having higher minimum wages than United States; holds vote sets solid wage floor that is not dependent on collective bargaining between unions and employers, and will aid in stabilizing nation economically and socially; holds Germany's move offer US important lessons. MORE

Jul. 4, 2014

Lower house of German Parliament votes to establish national minimum wage for first time, to take effect in 2015. MORE

Jul. 4, 2014

Jun. 27, 2014

Massachusetts Gov Deval Patrick signs into law a measure raising the minimum wage to the highest of any state, $11 per hour, by 2017. MORE

Jun. 26, 2014

Ikea plans to adopt wage structure that it says will raise average hourly minimum wage at its 38 stores in United States to $10.76 an hour, 17 percent increase. MORE

Jun. 11, 2014

Jim Dwyer About New York column; New York State audit finds as of August 2013, total of 17,191 cases involving wage theft claims are being handled by state’s Labor Department, increase of about 150 percent from 2008; minimum wage case of Solomon Perez of Manhattan is discussed. MORE

Jun. 10, 2014

Vermont Gov Peter Shumlin signs law that will raise the state's minimum wage, now $8.73 an hour, to $10.50 by 2018. MORE

Jun. 9, 2014

Editorial contends Congress should raise federal minimum wage; maintains failure to do so affects estimated 27.8 million people, hardest hit of which are the roughly 3.3 million Americans who work for tips; calls for at least raising the tipped minimum wage, since that has not changed since 1991. MORE

Jun. 7, 2014

Editorial applauds Seattle's approval of $15-an-hour minimum wage; contends that wage, nation's highest minimum, changes terms of minimum wage debate and expands realm of possibilities in setting new minimums; holds that questions remain as to whether such actions by other cities and states will prompt Congress to follow suit. MORE

Jun. 5, 2014

Gov Andrew M Cuomo reverses position on minimum wage in New York, saying he will support demand of Working Families Party that municipalities with higher costs of living be allowed to set higher minimum wage; endorses statewide increase to $10.10 an hour and minimum wage as much as 30 percent higher in places such as New York City, Westchester County and Nassau County. MORE

Jun. 3, 2014

Seattle City Council unanimously approves minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, more than double the federal minimum; vote guarantees workers there the highest big-city minimum in the nation. MORE

May. 29, 2014

Michigan's Republican-controlled Legislature approves gradual increase in state's minimum wage, to $9.25 an hour; change reflects national conversation about income inequality, worker pay and economic growth that is bumping up against the reality of practical politics. MORE

May. 24, 2014

May. 22, 2014

More than 100 protesters are arrested outside McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill, during demonstrations about the low pay earned by fast-food workers; actions come ahead of company's annual shareholders' meeting; protesters demand minimum wage of $15 per hour and right to unionize. MORE

May. 19, 2014

Swiss voters resoundingly reject proposed minimum wage that would have been the world's highest, at $24.65 per hour; move is widely seen as reflecting aversion to state intervention in the liberal economic policies that are the bedrock of country's prosperity. MORE

May. 17, 2014

Editorial opposes effort by National Association of Medicaid Directors to delay enactment of federal rule requiring home care workers be paid at least minimum wage and time and a half for overtime; urges Labor Sec Thomas Perez to deny group's request for further study; holds that delay would further exploitation of home care workers and set negative precedent for fast-growing occupation. MORE

May. 17, 2014

Swiss are going to polls to weigh in on raising national hourly minimum wage in Switzerland to 22 Swiss francs, or $24.65 an hour; if passed, would become highest minimum wage worldwide, by more than double that of any other country, adding latest twist to global debate on causes and extent of income inequality. MORE